Sunday, September 28, 2008

The Thomson Reuters lawsuit against the developers of Zotero is getting a lotofnotice, which is good.

I've noticed that in the library world, when people mention getting sued, it's with fear and the implication that this represents the end of the world. It's an interesting contrast coming from working for a startup (albeit a pretty well-funded one) where lawsuits == a) publicity, and are not to be feared (perhaps even to be provoked) and/or b) are a signal that you've scared your competitors enough to make them go running to Daddy, thus unequivocally validating your business model.

This is an act of sheer desperation on the part of Thomson Reuters. They're hoping GMU will crumble and shut the project down. I do hope Dan has contacted the EFF (donate!) and that the GMU administration will take this for what it is: fantastic publicity for one of their most important departments and an indicator that they are doing something truly great.